Writing a Research
Report
If research was not “written up,”
did it really occur?
Writing a Research
Report
• Academic sociologists conduct research to
discover facts, truths, and explanations
about the social world.
• They write research reports to convey
theirs and others’ research findings.
• Types of Research:
Library research refers to gathering information
that others have generated.
Primary research refers to generating information
through data collection, analysis, and reporting
findings.
Writing a Research
Report
• Sociologists’ articles, papers, or research reports
come in different forms:
– Literature Review: Library research that organizes facts
and/or theories others in the sociological community
generated (Rarely published)
– Research Article or Book: One’s own findings generated
by a primary research project that builds on previous
research by the sociological community. (Findings from
basic research, most common.)
– Applied Research Report: One’s findings from a primary
research project that evaluates a program without drawing
much from previous sociological research. (Findings from
applied research, rarely published.)
– This class focuses on writing Research Articles.
Writing a Research
Report
• A sociological article, paper, or report
generally covers only one important topic
of interest and conveys evidence and
interpretations of evidence.
• Research reports are NOT creative
writing, opinion pieces, poems, novels,
letters, musings, memoirs, or interesting
to read.
Writing a Research
Report
•
•
•
A sociological article, paper, or report about primary
research generally takes a structure or form that seems
difficult but is intended to help make reading it or using it
for research quick and efficient.
A research report has seven components:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Abstract or Summary
Introduction
Review of Literature
Methods
Results
Conclusions and Discussion
References
Note:
•
•
Qualitative research reports will vary from what is presented
here.
Applied research reports may vary from what is presented here.
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
1.
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–
–
Abstract or Summary
The abstract or summary tells the reader very briefly
what the main points and findings of the paper are.
This allows the reader to decide whether the paper is
useful to them.
Get into the habit of reading only abstracts while
searching for papers that are relevant to your
research.
Read the body of a paper only when you think it will be
useful to you.
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
1. Abstract or Summary—an example
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
2.
–
–
Introduction
The introduction tells the reader:
•
•
•
Introductions should:
•
•
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what the topic of the paper is in general terms,
why the topic is important
what to expect in the paper.
funnel from general ideas to the specific topic of the
paper
justify the research that will be presented later
Introductions are sometimes folded into literature
reviews
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
2. Introduction—an example
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
3.
Review of Literature
The literature review tells the reader what other
researchers have discovered about the paper’s topic
or tells the reader about other research that is
relevant to the topic. Often what students call a
“research paper” is merely a literature review.
–
A literature review should shape the way readers
think about a topic—it educates readers about what
the community of scholars says about a topic and its
surrounding issues.
–
Along the way it states facts and ideas about the
social world and supports those facts and ideas with
evidence for from where they came (empiricism).
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
3.
Review of Literature
–
Literature reviews have parenthetical citations
running throughout. These are part of a systematic
way to document where facts and ideas came from,
allowing the skeptical reader to look up anything that
is questionable.
–
Parenthetical citation is our way of substantiating the
claims in our paper, without breaking our flow.
–
Each citation directs the reader to the references
where complete details on sources can be found.
Therefore, information such as authors’ first names or
titles of works do not need to be written into the
text.
•
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
3. Review of Literature
– Citations consist of authors’ last names and the year of
publication. One finds complete information on sources by
looking up last names and dates in alphabetized references—so
there’s no need to put all that information in the text.
– We have conventions that allow the reader to figure out from
where information is coming . Here are some examples of the
conventions for citing in text of the literature review:
Just pointing out where info came from:
• Form: blah blah (Author Year)
• Example: … the gays are different (Lee 2004).
– More than one article in the same year:
• Form: blah blah (Author Yeara) and also blah blah (Author yearb)
• Example: …are different (Lee 2004a), but are more pickled (Lee
2004b)
Writing a Research
Report
• A research report has seven components:
3. Review of Literature
– We have conventions that allow the reader to figure out from
where information is coming . Here are some examples of the
conventions for citing in text of the literature review:
Where a researcher is quoted:
• Form: blah, “Quote quote” (Author Year: Pages)
• Example: reveals that “the gays are different.” (Lee 2004: 340).
More than one source:
• Form: blah blah (Author Year; Author Year)
• Example: …bi’s are more adept (Lee 2004; Seymour & Hewitt 1997).
Writing a Research
Report
• A research report has seven components:
3. Review of Literature
– We have conventions that allow the reader to figure out from
where information is coming . Here are some examples of the
conventions for citing in text of the literature review:
Using the author’s name in a sentence:
• Form: Author (Year) says that…
• Example: Lee (2004) claims that girls will rule the world…
Quoting a person and using their name:
• Form: Author (Year: Pages) says, “Quote quote…”
• Example: Lee (2004: 341) says, “Girls are more likely to rule the
world…”
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
3. Review of Literature—examples of citing
•
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
3.
–
Review of Literature
If an idea is used, but cannot be substantiated by the
community of sociologists, the literature review
clearly shows that the author is speculating and
details the logic of the speculation.
–
Do NOT discuss irrelevant information.
•
–
•
For example, a paper on attitudes about marijuana attitudes
should not detail the multiple uses of hemp such as in clothing,
rope, hemp oil and so forth.
The literature review has is written in the author’s
voice. The sources of information are not extensively
quoted or “copied and pasted.” Instead, the author
puts facts and ideas into his or her own words while
pointing out from where the information came.
Analogously, if you were discussing the exciting things you
learned in a sociology course at a cocktail party, you would use
your own words. You would NOT pull out a book or lecture notes
and quote these word for word.
•
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
3. Review of Literature
–
Note: Explaining why social events occur as they do requires
use (and testing) of explanations that have worked before.
THESE EXPLANATIONS ARE CALLED THEORIES.
•
Most academic literature reviews have a guiding theory
that is used to:
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Frame (or help us understand) facts in the literature.
Establish expectations (or hypotheses) for the research.
Justify speculation when no evidence to justify an idea
specific to a topic exists in the literature.
•
Sometimes the whole point of a research project is to:
•
You will most likely not refer to theories in your papers
–
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Determine whether a theory works
Pit two or more theories against each other to see which
works better
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
3. Review of Literature
–
Quantitative literature reviews typically end with:
1.
Focused declarations of the particular issues the
research activity is addressing—ideas about a topic
that will be tested with quantitative methods
2. Research hypotheses
Hypotheses are statements of the expected
relationship(s) between two (or more) variables
For example:
“Men will have higher investment income than women.”
“Older Americans are more likely to oppose abortion
for a woman who doesn’t want her baby because she
is poor.”
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
3. Review of Literature—examples of hypotheses
Hypothesis 1. In a new social context, girls will be more sociable than boys—getting more
involved with others (interactional commitments) and forming more emotionally close
relationships (affective commitments)—across activity domains.
Hypothesis 2. Given that commitments to new relationships positively determine identity
prominence, and identity prominence positively determines behaviors, if girls are more
sociable with newer persons, their identities and behaviors will change more across
activity domains.
Hypothesis 3. However, girls and boys will experience the same identity processes,
meaning that girls and boys with the same sociability in new relationships will have
equal identity and behavior changes.
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
4.
Methods
A METHODS SECTION MUST CONTAIN:
1.
Descriptions of Data (Think in terms of: “Who, What, When,
Where, Why and How?”)
Report:
A. The Target Population
B. The Ways Data were Collected:
1. Sampling
2. Delivery Methods
C. Response Rates
D. Sample sizes resulting from various decisions
Such as:
1. eliminating non-Christians from the sample
2. using only white respondents
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
4. Methods
A METHODS SECTION MUST CONTAIN:
2. Descriptions of Variables
First for dependent, then for independent
variables, report:
A. Names for the variables—make them intuitive! (Do
not use GSS variable names.)
B. Word for word description of the questions.
(sociology differs from psychology and medicine)
C. Final coding scheme—the numbers you assigned to
responses.
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
4.
Methods
A METHODS SECTION MUST CONTAIN:
3.
Manipulations of the variables or data
For example:
A. recoding income from 23 uneven intervals to five equivalent
categories
B. removing non-citizens if studying voting patterns
4.
Reflection on ability of data to generalize to the
target population
A.
B.
5.
Limitations of Data (omitted cases, biases, etc.)
Analyses that bolster claims that the data are appropriate
Statistical techniques that will be used to test your
hypotheses and the statistics program used.
Writing a Research Report
4. Methods
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
5. Results
The results section chronicles the
outcome of the statistical analyses,
assessing whether your hypotheses
were correct and why or why not.
•
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
5.
Results
The results section includes:
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Narrative describing most relevant findings
–
Professional tables showing descriptive and inferential
statistics
•
•
Tables must be numbered and have a descriptive title
There are conventions for formatting
For example:
–
Asterisks are used to highlight results that are
statistically important
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All numbers in a column are aligned on decimals
Writing a Research Report
5. Results
•
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
5.
Results
The narrative and tables are complementary.
•
The narrative discusses ONLY VERY IMPORTANT
Results and leaves details for tables.
•
As different outcomes are described in the narrative,
reference is made to where the detailed information can
be found in the tables.
•
The tables contain almost all statistical information so
that the author does not have to write a narrative for
every detail in the analysis.
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven
components:
5. Results
The narrative highlights:
– Evaluations of the hypotheses. Were
the research hypotheses supported?
– Statements about new discoveries or
surprises encountered in the analyses
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
6. Conclusions and Discussion
This section assesses how one’s research
findings relate to what the community of
sociologists have accepted as facts.
1.
Things that should be done:
Summarize the most salient points of your
research (tell the reader what you found out
about your topic).
2. Discuss the general significance of your topic
and findings.
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
6. Conclusions and Discussion
3. Discuss the shortcomings of your study and
how these might affect your findings.
4. Discuss things future researchers should
investigate about your topic to advance
knowledge about it.
5. Help the reader gain the knowledge that you
think he or she ought to have about the topic.
You spent a lot of time exploring the, you
should share your expertise.
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
7. References
The references are just as important as any
other part of your paper.
References are the empirical support for
claims in a paper that are not directly
observed in the research. They are needed
for researchers to remain empirical in their
descriptions of topics.
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
7. References:
Link the paper to the community of scholars,
permitting readers to assess the worthiness
claims in a paper.
Make the research process much more
efficient because they make it very easy to
look up sources of facts and ideas.
•
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
7.
References
Style:
Hanging indented
Alphabetical on author’s last name (by increasing year within same author)
Invert only first author’s name
Information within source in an order determined by type of source
Article:
Last Name, first name, first name last name, and first name last name.
Year. “Article title.” Journal Name Volume(number): 1st Page- Last
Page.
Lee, James Daniel. 2005. “Do Girls Change More than Boys? Gender
Differences and Similarities in the Impact of New Relationships on
Identities and Behaviors.” Self and Identity 4:131-47.
Multiple authors…
Kroska, Amy and Sarah K. Harkness. 2008. “Exploring the Role of
Diagnosis in the Modified Labeling Theory of Mental Illness.” Social
Psychology Quarterly 71:193-208
Writing a Research
Report
•
A research report has seven components:
7.
References
Book Chapter:
Last Name, first name. Year. “Chapter Name.” Pages in the book in Book
Name, edited by first name last name. City of Publisher: Publisher.
Bianciardi, Roberto. 1997. "Growing Up Italian in New York City." Pp.179213 in Adult Narratives of Immigrant Childhoods, edited byAna
Relles. Rose Hill, PA: Narrative Press.
Book:
Last name, first name. Year. Book Name. City of Publisher: Publisher.
Stryker, Sheldon. 1980. Symbolic Interactionism: A Social Structural
Version. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings.
•
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
7.
References
General Social Survey:
Davis, James Allan and Smith, Tom W.: General Social Surveys, 1972-2008.
[machine-readable data file]. Principal Investigator, James A. Davis; Director and
Co-Principal Investigator, Tom W. Smith; Co-Principal Investigator, Peter V.
Marsden, NORC ed. Chicago: National Opinion Research Center, producer, 2005;
Storrs, CT: The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of
Connecticut, distributor. 1 data file (53,043 logical records) and 1 codebook
(2,656 pp).
Website:
Last Name (if available), first name. Year (if available). “Article or web page title.”
Journal or Report Name Volume (if available). Retrieved date
(http://address).
Markowitz, Robin. 1991. “Canonizing the Popular.” Cultural Studies Central. Retrieved
October 31, 2001 (http://culturalstudies.net/canon.htm).
Note: Do your best to replicate this style in the case of missing information. If
there is no author, use the title in that position. Always have a retrieved date
and website address.
Writing a Research
Report
A research report has seven components:
7. References—an example
Writing a Research
Report
Some General Points
1.
Make accurate sociological claims in your paper. Stake
out positions—a kind of, “I think I have the answer to
this issue,” position.
2.
Cite facts to support your sociological claims.
3.
If you can, use theories to support your sociological
claims.
4.
Every declaration or “fact claim” must be cited or overtly
posed as speculation.
Writing a Research
Report
Some General Points
5.
Anticipate your reader’s questions as you write:
A.
B.
C.
6.
help the reader understand why your topic is important
demonstrate to the reader that you adequately investigated
your topic
help them anticipate what you’ll say next—everything you say
should seem reasonable to say
While writing, keep thinking “The point is to:
(1) establish hypotheses
(2) describe how to test the hypotheses
(3) give results of tests, and
(4) discuss what the reader should believe about the world.”
Writing a Research
Report
Some General Points
7.
There is no right answer in a research paper—Just
approximate representations of the truth that are closer
or further away from that truth.
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The truth is:
•
From “Community of Scholars”:
•
From you:
What they said about your topic in the journals,
books, and other publications
What your methods and analyses revealed about the
topic.
Writing a Research
Report
Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
• What is it?
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All knowledge in your head has either been
copied from some place or originally
discovered by you.
Most knowledge was copied.
This is true in most settings. General
knowledge is copied. Most teachers’ lectures
are copied knowledge.
Human culture would not exist without our
keen ability to copy!
Humans are natural copiers, but that is not
what is meant by the term “plagiarism.”
Writing a Research
Report
• The Elements of Style endorses imitation as a way for a
writer to achieve his own style:
– The use of language begins with imitation . . . The imitative life
continues long after the writer is on his own in the language,
for it is almost impossible to avoid imitating what one admires.
Never imitate consciously, but do not worry about being an
imitator; take pains instead to admire what is good. Then when
you write in a way that comes naturally, you will echo the
halloos that bear repeating.
Copied from: http://www.answers.com/topic/writing-style-1
Writing a Research
Report
Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
•
What is it?
–
Among other things, plagiarism refers to taking
others’ work and representing it as if it were your own.
–
In academics this is bad because with plagiarism:
•
•
•
One cannot assess students’ development accurately
The person who makes his or her livelihood by scholarly
pursuit is being robbed of credit
It masks the lineage of ideas and facts.
“Plagiarism is to academics as Enron-accounting is to
corporate America.”
Writing a Research
Report
Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
Lineage of Ideas:
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Original sources of research are all the proof we have for
some facts. Without the “paper trail” of academic thought:
•
People could pass incorrect ideas off as facts
•
We would have to keep “re-proving” things.
•
The contexts that generated facts and ideas get lost.
•
Research becomes highly inefficient as it becomes incredibly
difficult to find “full information” on a topic.
Writing a Research
Report
Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
–
To avoid plagiarism:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Document every source for information that is not
“general knowledge”—this includes facts and ideas.
Cite every time a fact or idea is used unless it is clear
that one citation is referring to a group of facts or
ideas.
If you quote material, put quotation marks around the
quoted stuff and include a page number within the
citation.
It is alright to paraphrase material, but you still have to
cite from where the paraphrased material came.
When in doubt, cite the source.
Improper citing is grounds for failure on the course paper.